1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to image processing, and more particularly, to a method, medium, and apparatus processing depth information of a depth image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although various methods of passively extracting 3D information, e.g., from several sheets of color images using computer vision techniques, have been suggested, information obtaining devices such as depth cameras have been generally used to obtain depth images. Such computer vision techniques include performing complex processes and do not provide accurate depth information, whereas depth cameras can relatively easily and accurately obtain depth images and information.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the conventional principle behind the use of depth cameras. Referring to FIG. 1, a light source 11 irradiates light, such as infrared (IR), onto a scene 10 as an incident light 101, a reflection light 102 of the light source 11 is detected via a depth sensor 12, and time of flight (TOF) is measured in order to calculate a distance between objects of the scene 10. As a result, an intensity image 14 and a depth image 13 of the detected light can be obtained.
In more detail, in such an example, if a photographing button of the depth camera is manipulated, the depth camera would irradiate IR light onto a subject, calculate a depth value of each point of the subject based on time taken between a point when the IR light is irradiated and a point when the reflected IR is detected, and present the depth value as an image in order to generate and obtain the depth image 13 of the subject. Herein, the depth value references the distance between points, e.g., a point on the object and the depth camera.
Each depth value for each pixel of a depth image can be represented by a certain number of bits. In this regard, herein, the present inventors have found that such depth value representations results in generally too much data to represent each depth value of each pixel for the entire depth image, making it impossible to efficiently store, transmit, and process the depth image.